


It was always you

by apataeavaca



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Christmas Fluff, First Kiss, Fluff, Grinchy Jared, M/M, Matter of Life and Death, Not actually AU, Protective Jensen, True Love's Kiss, grumpy jared
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 16:23:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17124722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apataeavaca/pseuds/apataeavaca
Summary: Here are five things no one knows about Jared Padalecki:1 – He doesn’t really like chocolate.2 – He once had a pet rock called Steve.3 – When he was growing up, he hated when people pointed out how tall he was.4 – His favorite color is pink.5 – He has a crush on his best friend.





	It was always you

**Author's Note:**

> Dear someone reading this,
> 
> This is a very cheezy, very clichè kind of story.  
> This also happens to be my favorite kind of story, so I hope you enjoy it anyway.
> 
> Merry Crhistmas!!
> 
> <3

The funny thing is that Jared wasn't even trying to fall in love, or anything. But, as it all is, things are never the way we expect them to be, and to Jared, it went worse.

It all started at that stupid Christmas party, and maybe you'll think that he was being a little grinchy about it, because who the hell deslikes a party like that, right? It had booze, it was huge, they had good food, his friends were there, and it was Christmas time! But none of that could erase the fact that _she_  was there too.

Daneel Harris was a petite redheaded girl, and honestly, if you asked Jared a couple of weeks ago, he would totally say she was absolutely gorgeous. Now, though, he thought about her as disgusting; disgustingly perfect, that is, because he couldn't even say anything bad about her, what with the only bad thing she had ever done was start dating his best friend. And don't get him wrong, he was happy for them, they seemed to be happy together, and they were probably the most stupidly good looking couple he had ever seen, but he just couldn't help feeling sorry for himself; the thing was that Jared wished that Jensen would be there now, with him, drinking and laughing about his jokes, but instead he was somewhere on the dance floor with stupid beautiful Danneel Harris.

Jared sighed, downing the entire content of his glass (god knows what that was), and looked away from the spot where he last saw Jensen's smiley face down on the dance floor. There was a free stool at one of the darkest corners of the bar, and Jared beelined at it, flopping down heavily and asking for another one of whatever that thing was. 

He waited until the bartender put the pink drink in front of him, and sucked bitterly at the red and green straw. He couldn't stop thinking about going down there and saying all those things to Jensen's face, and he wondered if maybe he'd had a little too much of that pink stuff; because, honestly, what would he even say? Ask for him to leave his goddam girlfriend alone there to be there with him instead? It sounded stupid even inside his drunk brain. 

Come to think of it, maybe he was bitter because he didn't have a girlfriend himself anymore. Maybe his bad mood would be fixed if he started dating someone again.

As if on cue, a girl climbed on the stool beside him at the bar and ordered a beer. She was wearing an elf hat, with little bells and everything, and she smiled at him from ear to ear.

"Hey, Jared!" She said, and that's when Jared's brain recognized her cute little nose and bright smile. Genevieve, the new Ruby!

"Oh, hey Gen," he replied, smiling drunkingly at her. "Nice hat."

"Thank you, it was a gift," she said, pointing to something behind her shoulder. Jared leaned back on his stool to see what she was pointing at. It was Santa Claus. That is, someone dressed as Santa, of course. They were indeed handing out hats. 

"Guess you're one of his helpers now, then" Jared said to Genevieve, seriously impressed about how coherent he was being, even after finishing his drink again.

"Guess I am" she replied, accepting the beer from the bartender. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted. It took Jared a solid ten seconds to realize someone else was talking to him.

"Earth to Jay" Jensen said, shaking his hand in front of Jared's face.

"Hey!" Jared responded. Not his most original, but who the hell was counting anyway?

"I was asking if you want to dance?"

Jared looked back at Genevieve, who was smiling at both him and Jensen, and for a moment he asked himself if maybe he was a lot more drunk than he'd thought.

"What?" He asked, and Jensen rolled his eyes at him. "Where's Danneel?"

"She's already down there, she's dancing with her friends." 

"Oh, okay" Jared said, jumping from the stool. He then turned to Genevieve. "Do you want to come?"

"Nah, I'm fine here. Have fun, though!"

Jensen replied for him. "Thank you! See you 'round!" he yelled, already running towards the stairs and pulling Jared by his shirtsleeves.

Admittedly, Jared was not really happy about the idea of dancing with Jensen, Danneel, and her friends, but he figured it was better than drinking himself silly at the bar. Jensen did not lead him to Danneel, though.

They went straight to the center of the dance floor, and Jensen let go of his sleeves so they could dance. The DJ was playing one of those new pop songs that Jared couldn't care less about, but at least it was fun. Jensen was already laughing at his dance moves, and Jared couldn't help but laugh as well, acting sillier and sillier as the songs played.

At one point, though, Jensen placed his hand on Jared's shoulder and leaned in to say something. The music was too loud, and they were talking by yelling at each other the whole time, but Jensen seemed to have something more private to say this time. He got on his tiptoes and pressed his face to Jared’s.

"So, Genevieve?" Is what he said. Jared waited for him to elaborate, but after a few seconds, he realized Jensen was asking if they were a thing.

"Oh, no!" He said then, laughing. Is not that Gen wasn't gorgeous or anything like that, it's just that she hadn't ever signaled that she was into him in any way, so Jared didn't even get his hopes up.

"Why not?" Jensen asked, now taking a step back to keep dancing and back to yelling again.

"I don't know, it's just not happening." Jared shrugged.

"Okay, then." 

They kept dancing together for what felt like forever, and Jared was feeling pretty invincible right then. He thought it was because of all the alcohol he'd had so far, but that was just how being with Jensen made him feel sometimes. He was also feeling a little funny in the stomach, and that probably was the alcohol, though.

"I'm gonna get another drink. Do you want something?" Jensen yelled. Jared only nodded, and Jensen made his way back to the bar.

Jared stayed there for a while, dancing in his own. Now maybe that pink drink had messed a little with his time perception, but Jensen was taking a pretty fucking long time to come back with their drinks. Jared tried to see over everybody's heads (which wasn't that hard for him, to be honest), but Jensen was nowhere near. He decided to wait a few more moments though, because maybe Jensen had taken a break to go the bathroom or something, but when he still didn't show up, ten minutes later, Jared started to worry a little. He zigazagged his way through the crowd and went towards the stairs to go and ser if Jensen was stuck at the bar, but he didn't have to go that far. Jensen was there. Right under the stair, tangled with Danneel, his hands on her waist and her's tugging on his hair like he was going to run away if she didn’t.

Whatever it was that was making Jared feel funny in the stomach earlier had decided to move to his guts, and it clenched. He felt hurt, there was no nicer way to say it. However, he wasn't about to get in the way of his friend and his girlfriend, so he just decided to leave quietly, since his mood had changed quickly from invincible to miserable.

He made his way to the door, where Genevieve was then, talking to someone from the crew; she asked him if he was alright and if he needed anything, to which he politely said that everything was fine, he was just tired, thanks for asking, and crossed the doors to the outside.

Jared breathed in the cold air, and thought about how the hell was he supposed to get home if him and Jensen had gotten there together with Cliff. Then he saw a public phone booth and decided to call a cab.

That's when everything got all out of hand. Not that Jared knew, at the time, but that was the exact moment.

On his way to the phone booth, Jared stepped on something; he turned around to see that it was - used to be, before he stepped on it, anyway - a wild berry.

Cursing a little under his breath (because as if his night wasn't pathetic enough before, now his shoe was dirty), he finally got to the phone and called the damn cab.

 

***

 

Jared woke up with a headache. Which, to be honest, wasn't a big surprise, having drunk half of the bar the night before. What was a surprise, though, was the sharp pain on his heart. At first, he though heart attack, which would be just perfect, on top of everything else, so he jolted out of bed, scared. He ran to the bathroom and looked himself in the mirror, searching for something he didn't really know what.

His face looked normal, and his accelerated heartbeat seemed to be due to how scared he was. It wasn't everyday that you wake up with chest pains, and that shit was dangerous, he knew that much.

He kept looking at himself, waiting for the pain to happen again, but when it didn't, he relaxed and reached for his toothbrush, lazily scratching at his neck.

He looked himself in the mirror again, then, and saw it.

There was a leaf painted on his shoulder.

_Odd_ , he thought, trying to remember if he'd had been way more out of it last night and stopped at some tattoo shop. It didn't look tattooed, though, so he reached to touch it.

And then it happened again.

The pain, he realized, was much more like that sharp ache on your belly when you laugh too much, so it couldn't really be a heart attack, he reasoned. It was something, though, and when he touched the leaf again, the pain spread all the way to his tip toes.

"What the actual fuck?" he murmured to himself, turning to better see the leaf on the mirror.

As it turns out, it wasn't a leaf. It was more like a giant fucking tree that occupied his entire back.

So he screamed, and reached for his phone inside the pocket of the jacket he was wearing the night before, only to come out empty handed. 

_Shit_ , that was why he called a cab on the public phone booth. He had lost his fucking phone.

Breathing heavily and trying not to freak the fuck out, Jared went down to the living room to use the house phone.

He then called his doctor, who, obviously, had never heard of such a thing, but unfortunately couldn't help him much, as he was on vacation. He asked for a photo, though, and if he had a trace of laughter in his voice, Jared chose to ignore. He then hung up and thought about how the hell was he supposed to take a picture if he didn't have his phone.

So he was freaking out a little.

Actually, scratch that, he was freaking _the fuck_ out. Like, _a lot._

He went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water and recompose. His first thought was to call his mom, but he knew she would probably freak out so much she would want to fly all the way to Canada to see what was happening. Then, he thought about calling Jensen, and for a moment he didn't know how he hadn't thought of it before.

He went back to the living room and dialed his number. It rang, and rang, and rang, till it went to voicemail. " _You've reached Jensen Ackles. That's me. If you're a friend, please leave a message. If you're not, then you know what to do. If you're mom, I love you and I'll call you back._ " 

Jared sighed and pushed the end button. He then tried to call Jensen's house, only to be answered by the stupid answering machine.

He was about to call again when he remembered his old camera, tossed somewhere inside the boxes he'd never gotten to open since he'd moved to the new house.

 

*

 

There she was, dull and dusted, but good enough. He went back to the bathroom, took the picture, then plugged the camera to his laptop and emailed it to his doctor.

A few moments later, his phone rang, and he answered angrily, thinking it was finally Jensen calling back. It was his doctor, though, and he was definitely laughing now.

"You got me, kid!" He said, his laughter reverberating through the phone. "But it's a little late for trick or treating, huh?"

Jared tried to get a word in, but his doctor's laughter engulfed whatever it was he was going to say.

"Merry Christmas, boy! I'll see you when I get back! Oh, and stop drinking, Jared, it's no good for your health, kid!”

Then the line went dead. 

Jared didn't know what to do. He tried calling Jensen again, just for good measure (and mostly because he was avoiding getting to the conclusion that he was possibly going crazy), but he didn't answer again.

That's when the doorbell rang. His dogs started barking really loud from their houses at the backyard, and Jared jolted up again, startled.

He went to the kitchen to answer the intercom. 

A tiny shivery voice answered from the outside. "Hey Jared, it's Genevieve!"

"Oh hey Gen, come in!" He answered, already running to the front door and throwing on some sweats.

Genevieve looked like she'd just gone through a snow storm. Jared collected her coat and peeked outside; it was snowing like crazy.

"Do you want something to drink? Something warm?" He asked, welcoming her inside.

"Something warm would be nice." She replied, and followed him to the kitchen.

Jared made her an instant cappuccino, with an apologetic shrug. It was all he had. Genevieve accepted it happily though, and they both settled on the high stools at the island.

"Sorry for coming without a heads up," she started to say, her nose and cheeks really pink from the cold.

"It's fine." Jared replied, as if he wasn't having a mental breakdown a few seconds ago. He figured that as long as he didn't think too much about it, his brain was safe from melting. For now.

"Actually, I came to give you this," she said, putting her mug down on the counter and getting Jared's cellphone out from her jacket pocket. "You left it at the bar when you went dancing with Jensen, and I forgot to give it back when I saw you leaving."

Jared was relieved someone he trusted had found it; he couldn't afford some random stranger finding it and doing god knows what with his personal stuff. He smiled, and accepted it as she handed it back.

There were six missing calls. One was from Cliff, one was from Chad, and four of those were from Jensen. He almost smiled fondly at the screen, but then he realized what Genevieve had said... _when you went dancing with Jensen_.

_Oh yeah, right_. When he went dancing with Jensen and the guy had leaved him alone on the dancefloor to make out with his new girlfriend.

You know what, screw Jensen if he thought Jared would just stay there waiting for his make out sesh to be over!

Squeezing the phone on his massive hand, Jared looked back at Genevieve. He'd had almost forgot she was there, but she was eyeing him intently from behind her mug of microwaved cappuccino.

"Sorry, you were saying?" He smiled apologetically again, stuffing his phone on the back pocket of his jeans (which were definitely the one he was wearing the night before).

Genevieve put her mug down again. "Jared, I'm sorry if I'm being nosy, but are you alright? You seem a little... pale. Is everything okay?"

He almost answered that, _yeah, totally_ , but then the pain happened again.

He doubled down in pain, sharper and brighter than before, and Genevieve jumped out of her stool and was by his side in 0.3 seconds.

Her voice sounded distant for a second. "Hey, hey, breathe, Jared, breathe!"

Jared did just that, and the pain went away like it was never there.

"What was that?" She inquired, helping him get back on the stool (which was a feat, what with how tiny she was).

Jared instinctively placed his hand on his shoulder, half expecting another jolt of pain, but instead he felt something move. He freaking felt something _move_ on his shoulder.

With a yelp, he pawed his sweats off and looked at the damn tree. For a moment, he expected it to not be there, but it was. Fuller than before, bigger than before. At one of the branches, there was even some sort of fruit stamped on his skin. He didn't know how he knew that, but something told him the movement he felt was the fruit growing in on the tree.

Genevieve half yelled half gasped, and turned Jared around at the stool.

"What? Did you get yourself a tattoo no one knows about? This is really cool, it's gorgeou, it's-" she stopped abruptly.

"What? What is it?" Jared asked, trying to see his back over his shoulder.

Genevieve moved both her hands to cover her mouth. "I think-" she said, muffled. "I actually think it moved."

Jared whimpered, feeling more and more anxious, but then it hit him. Genevieve could see it! And unless he was so out of it he was actually imagining her being there, then it meant he wasn't going crazy after all!

"You see it!" He screamed, turning around to grab her by the shoulders. "I'm not crazy! You're seeing it!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure if I'm not crazy myself, but sure, I see it. Whatever it is." She shrugged.

"I don't know as well! I just woke up and it was there!"

"And this thing that happened right now?"

"I don't know." he admitted, defeated. “It’s a sharp pain on my chest, but it goes away as fast as it comes.”

"But do you think these two things are related?"

"Definitely."

"So does it hurt if I poke it?" She asked, without waiting for an answer. Jared absolutely did not whimper again, _nah-ah_. "Oh, sorry, sorry!"

"It's okay, it's fine" he huffed, a little out of breath. "It stops after a few seconds, it's no big deal"

"Did you call a doctor?" Genevieve asked, concern written all over her pretty face.

"That's the thing" Jared answered, jumping out of his stool and running towards the living room, where his laptop was still open on the couch. "I did call my doctor, but he's on vacation, so I sent him a picture, right? But then he called me back, laughing, because he thought it was a joke!"

"I see." Gen replied, scratching behind her neck with a frown. "Should we get you to a hospital?"

"I don't know!" Jared barked again, feeling totally defeated.

"Let me take a look at it again."

Jared leaned forward, so his back was visible for her to examine. She ran her hands carefully around the tree, without touching it, and then gasped again. "I've seen this tree before!"

 

***

 

As it turns out, Genevieve did see the tree before. It was stamped on the tag of the hat she was wearing the night before. The elf one, the gift from Santa.

"There's actually an address on it" she said, eyeing the tag from over Jared's shoulder (he was sitting on her couch, all the way downtown, and she was standing behind it; that was the only way she would ever be able to see over his shoulder). "Gingerbread Street, 12." Jared read, with an ironic snort. _How fitting, right?_

"Hey, that's not far from here!" Genevieve huffed, clasping her hands and coming to stand in front of Jared. "Do you wanna go there?" 

"And what? Ask if they sell magic trees that grow on our backs overnight?"

"I don't know what we are going to ask, but it doesn't hurt to try! This is the only lead we have!"

Jared was starting to think Genevieve was having a little too much fun with the situation.

 

*

 

"Welcome to The Happy Elf, how can I help you?"

The place smelled like candy. Not like that artificial shit they put on the stores these days to cover the smell of mold, but like actual candy. Jared looked around and saw a basket of candy canes and baked goods perched on the counter.

Genevieve smiled at the clerk. "Hi, so me and my friend here might have some questions about your logo... is there anyone we can talk to about it?”

Jared was straight up frowning at the Christmas decorations scattered all over the place, and he wasn't even sorry about it. On top of all the magic tree tattoo thing going on, there was still Jensen, and Jared couldn't help but angrily squeeze his phone a little inside his jacket's pocket. He absolutely felt like the Grinch now, only his heart seemed to have downsized three times instead.

"Our logo?" The kid behind the counter answered. He was wearing a cheap elf costume, and Jared couldn't stop himself from cringing a little. It was at times like these that he thanked god for Supernatural. "Oh, you mean The Soulmate Tree? It's beautiful, isn't it? We actually have all sorts of merch with it, do you want to have a look?"

Genevieve was about to answer when Jared got fed up.

"No, thank you, I think I've seen enough!" He said, and turned to leave. Genevieve was having none of it, though, and grabbed him by the back of his jacket to pull him back inside the cramped place.

"You see, the thing is..." she started again, holding Jared firmly in place by the arm. "We thought maybe you could tell us a little more about its origins?"

The stupid tree chose that exact moment to make Jared squirm in pain again. Once again, he was starting to feel a little crazy, and the way the sweet smell filled his nose wasn't helping much either.

The clerk gasped, just like Genevieve had done earlier. Jared expected him to move around the counter to check on him, but instead he ran inside a little door almost hidden under all the decoration, and didn't come back.

Jared huffed, feeling the pain slowly fade away towards the rest of his body, just like it had done earlier. Genevieve had a supporting hand on his arm, and was once again telling him to breathe.

"Oh sweet baby Jesus" said someone from the counter. Jared looked up from under his bangs, still a little curved in on himself from the pain. "Let me take a look at it!"

The old lady was just a little smaller than Genevieve, but surely had twice her strength. She spun Jared around and yanked at his jacket, pulling his shirt up like she'd known Jared his whole life.

"Damn you, Sally! Not again!" the lady said, dropping Jared's shirt back to its place and turning him around again. He'd never been handled and turned around so much as he was being that day, and he would be lying if he said it wasn't making him feel a little angry.

"Excuse me, ma'am" Genevieve said, getting Jared's jacket from the floor. "Do you think you could help us?"

"Help you?" The old lady laughed. Jared was getting a little tired of people laughing at his situation, honestly. "Your friend here is doomed young lady, doomed!" She said, waving her hand dismissively and making her way around the counter again.

As they realized the old lady was just going to leave them with that, Genevieve grabbed Jared's shirt sleeve and pulled him towards her. What was it with people pulling him by his sleeves, anyway? First Jensen, now Gen- oh yeah _, Jensen_. Jared was going to punch the son of a bitch on his stupidly good looking face!

"Are you not going to help us?" Genevieve screeched, and Jared felt a little sting of shame for having thinking she was having fun with it. She actually seemed really upset.

"There is nothing I can do!" The old lady replied, without turning to face them again.

"I'm sure we could figure something out!" Said Genevieve, already pulling Jared behind the counter and following the woman inside the little door.

Jared had to duck all the way down almost to his knees to get through the door, and once he did, he was engulfed by a million sparkling Christmas ornaments. And he had thought the other room was full!, but it was nothing compared to that.

The woman noticed his staring, and rolled her eyes, murmuring something that sounded a lot like  _we are a Christmas ornament store, for fucks sake_.

"Have a seat" she said then, and it took Jared a second to realize there was a little table with three chairs at one corner of the room. On the other, the kid who had welcomed them to the store eyed them with wide eyes, and ran back to the front with a box of glittery star ornaments. 

They all seated on the mismatching chairs (Jared more like perched himself on it, but that was old news for him), and Genevieve opened her mouth to start talking again, but was interrupted.

"I don't know what you want me to say" the old lady barked, crossing her arms over the puffy festive dress she was wearing. "You are doomed!" She repeated.

"We got that already!" Jared surprised himself by saying it out loud. Genevieve kicked him on the shin from under the table, and Jared winced because she was wearing boots. The old lady eyed him like he was about to drop dead on the floor at any moment.

"So," Genevieve started again. "Do you think you could maybe tell us what this is, at least?"

Jared admired her patience, swear to god.

"It's a curse!" the woman hissed back. "Your friend went and got himself cursed, and now you want me to fix it! What am I? Friendly neighborhood witch?"

Genevieve breathed through her nose and continued as if the woman hadn't just offended them. "Then it  _can_  be fixed, right?"

The woman was clearly caught off-guard, and uncrossed her arms. "I suppose. But it's hard, I never heard of someone who actually got to it, so don’t go getting your hopes up!"

"We can always try, right?"

After that, the old lady seemed to warm up to them (or rather, to Genevieve) a little, and started actually explaining shit. She said the reason the goddamn tree had appeared there could be various; sometimes people are too mean to a magic creature (probably unknowingly, she admitted. Jared was having a little hard of a time trying to wrap his head around the whole idea of "magic", but he could feel the tree shifting under his shirt, and that was about as real as it gets), sometimes they ruin a child's dream, and sometimes it was simpler things, like crushing a fairy berry, or something. 

"Fairy berry?" Genevieve asked. Jared gasped, and she looked at him with concern, but it wasn't the pain this time.

"A berry! I stepped on a wild berry yesterday!"

"Well, there you go, then!" the woman said.

For a second, Jared felt like he'd had figured it all out. But then he remembered all the "doom" talk.

"So, what exactly are the side effects?" Genevieve inquired.

The woman eyed Jared with an expression that looked a lot like pity. "I wouldn't call it side effects, sweetheart. In 24 hours, your friend here is going to die. There is nothing we can do."

"What do you mean nothing?" Genevieve was starting to sound really freaking desperate. "There has to be something we can do! You said there was!"

"Well," the woman said, leaning forward on the table and looking from Gen to Jared with a thoughtful look. "There is one thing. Let's say, a universal cure."

"Which is?"

"True love's kiss, of course."

They both looked at her like she was absolutely crazy.

"True love's kiss?" Jared repeated, with a snort. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"Well, it is called the Soulmate tree for a reason, you know!" She huffed, obviously upset. 

"How the hell am I supposed to find my _soulmate_ in 24 hours?" Jared cried. 

"Well, I suppose I could help a little with that." The woman replied, getting up and going to a shelf littered with glittery ornaments. "Here."

She gave him a wooden box, with the store's logo craved on it. Jared hesitated a little, then opened it, but not before Genevieve kicked him lightly on the shin again.

Inside the box there was a pair of silicone ears. And not just any ears, but elf years. Jared almost laughed, but then remembered how pathetic his situation was, so he figured he might as well play along.

"What am I supposed to do with these?"

"You're supposed to wear them, obviously" she replied, as if Jared was the densest human being currently living on planet Earth. "While you're wearing them, you are supposed to hear a bell when you're in the presence of your destined person."

Jared nodded, like it all made total sense, even though it actually didn't. At all.

 

***

 

They parked outside Jared's house and stayed there, both of them looking straight outside through the closed windows for a whole solid minute. 

"So there's that." Genevieve said, getting out of the car. Jared, who wasn't expecting her to stay, jumped out of her car and followed her inside his own home. "We need to figure out a plan!" She continued saying as Jared unlocked the front door. "Maybe we could go back downtown, or, or- maybe we could fly back to the States! She said we still have 24 hours, right? Maybe we could-"

As Jared finally got to open the door, what with all the shaking hands he was having to deal with, though, Genevieve was rudely interrupted.

"Where the hell have you been?" Jensen yelled, getting his hands on the front of Jared's shirt and actually shaking him a little. 

Jared winced softly, because that had made his shirt scrape all over the tree, and Genevieve put herself between them, making Jensen step back a little. He looked down at her, then, a little dumbfounded, and back to Jared.

Jared regained his breath quickly at the sight of Jensen's wide open, impossibly green, eyes. 

"How the hell did you get in here?" he asked, because he actually didn't know what else to say.

Jensen's jaw dropped the tiniest bit. "What do you even mean? I have the goddamn key!"

_Oh, right_ , the spare key. The spare key he'd gave Jensen, so he could come in if something happened to Jared. Except that something _did_ happen to him, and Jensen didn't even pick up his phone!

"Okay, calm down you two." said Gen, in a soothing voice. Jensen breathed hard at that, and actually tried to calm down. So did Jared, but not entirely happy about it. "Jared, what do you want to do? We don't have much time."

"You don't have much time for what? And what is it with the flying down to the States thing you were talking about? What the hell is going on here?"

 

*

 

Jensen was nodding, speechless for a moment, as Genevieve answered all of his questions. Jared was too overwhelmed with everything to do anything more than stand there and drink a glass of water with three spoonsful of sugar.

"Twenty-four hours?" Jensen gasped.

"Actually, sixteen, now." Jared said, bitterly. "Although we don't really know when the clock started to run. So for all we know, maybe it's less. We’re just guessing it started at midnight."

"And why are y'all so calm? We need to leave, we need to go find this person!"

"Yeah, that was exactly what we were going to do when you interrupted us!" Jared huffed. A little sting of pain making his stomach clench, but not enough to make him double. Maybe he was getting used to it, who the hell knew?

"I-I'll go get my bag" Genevieve said, rushing out of the kitchen.

"Well, if I knew what was happening, I wouldn't have stopped you!" Jensen huffed back. 

"Well, you would've known if you had answered your goddamn phone earlier today!"

"Same goes to you, sport! I called you like a hundred times yesterday!"

"Four, you called four times! You didn't even care if I had made it back from the party alright!"

"Of course I cared! Why the hell do you think I'm here, Jared?"

"You weren't upset about me not being alright, you were upset that I didn't return your damn calls! Which is totally bullshit, and you know it, because I called you this morning!"

"That's why I'm here!" Jensen repeated, thumping his closed fist against the counter. Jared looked at him, surprised, and still a little hurt about what had happened the night before, which he wasn't even going to mention, to be honest. He had more urgent issues to deal with, and fighting with his best friend was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

"Look, I think you should go back home." He said, putting his glass down and trying not to look directly into Jensen's eyes, or else he might crumble or something cheesy like that.

"You want me to leave? Whit everything that is going on with you right now?" Jensen sounded a little hurt as well, but Jared simply didn't have the time to deal with it right now.

"I think that would be best, yeah." Jared replied. As Jensen didn't say anything, he went on. "Look, we don't even know if this is all real, I don't even know why the hell we are acting like all of this is normal stuff we see everyday, and not something that could be straight up from _Supernatural_. Besides, if I'm gonna go hunting for my _soulmate_ or whatever, that is something I have to do by myself. It's not like we have and extra pair of elf ears laying around, and even if we did, it's _my_ soulmate we're trying to find, not yours."

Jensen looked stunned, and Jared felt exhausted. He knew he was being too harsh on Jensen, but he needed to understand! Jared could be dying!

"Yeah, ok" Jensen said then, hopping off of the stool and nodding his head yes. "I get it, you're right."

He made his way to the door, and then hesitated a little.

"Will you please call me, if you find them? Your soulmate. And even if you don't. Will you please call me to let me know?”

Jared gulped. "Of course, Jen. Of course I will. You're my best friend, and you'll always be, whatever happens in these 24 hours."

"Yeah, alright."

And then he was gone.

 

*

 

Jared collapsed on the nearest chair, taking the little wooden box out of his jacket's front pocket. He opened it, and put on the ears.

He felt absolutely stupid. His hair needed to be pushed back for the elf ears to fit on his head. It was also a little gross. He put on his beanie, and tried to conceal them as much as possible, but it honestly didn't help much.

Now that Jensen was gone, Genevieve poked her head inside the kitchen again.

"Is it safe in here?" She asked, and jumped back inside.

That's when Jared heard it for the first time. The bells. The Christmas bells he was supposed to hear when he was near his soulmate.

His heart started jumping like crazy inside his chest, but he did everything he couldn't not to show it.

It couldn't be, could it? Could it be that Genevieve, Gen, the new Ruby, was his actual soulmate?

Genevieve frowned, and took a step closer, a little concerned look on her tiny little pretty face. And Jared heard it again. The bells! 

Oh god, oh god, oh god! He was hoping it was gonna be some random stranger on the street, someone he could just kiss and make it all better without having to make it all weird. I mean, that fact that Genevieve knew everything that was going on was already all kinds of messed up, without mentioning that they worked together, it could turn into a real shitstorm! Now, sure, maybe he was overreacting, he was sure she would kiss him in no time if he said she was the one, but the real problem was that Jared had gotten pretty attached to her in the last few hours, and he _did not_ want to mess everything up!

So, getting in a consensus with his own brain, Jared chose not to tell anything, until he was absolutely sure of how the hell he was going to break the news to her.

 

**

 

"I think we should start here" Genevieve said, parking the car somewhere near her house; she then climbed out and waited for Jared to do the same. Jared had taken off the ears for the ride, but it was time to put them back on. He put it, and got out of the car.

Genevieve was already walking towards the most crowded stores in the block, and Jared heard the bells again. Actually, he didn't stop hearing for a long as they were near each other. Only when Genevieve went ahead a little, he stopped hearing it.

So, he wasn't wrong or imagining things. He was hearing the bells around her, and that meant she most certainly  _was_  his soulmate.

Jared would lie if he said he wasn't shit scared of the possibilities.

He took the ears off for a moment and got closer to her, as she stopped in front of a Starbucks.

"I think we should part ways now," she said, stuffing her hand inside her pockets. "I will be here, waiting, in case you need something. You need to be alone, and approachable now."

"Yeah, right" Jared replied, dumbly. "I'll walk around and see what happens."

Only he knew exactly what was going to happen. He was going to go somewhere quiet and call Jensen right the fuck away.

Genevieve nodded, and Jared made his way towards the crowd as she entered the cafe.

He stopped somewhere near a giant plastic Christmas tree at the door of some big department store, and punched the digits to Jensen's cell.

He answered immediately. "Jared? Is everything alright?"

Jared scratched the back of his neck subconsciously. "So, I might have found her."

"Who?"

"My soulmate!"

Jensen went silent for a second, then, "Already? And who the hell is it?"

"Gen." Jared replied, simply. He had made his piece with that fact, now.

"Gen? You mean Genevieve? The new Ruby?"

Jared almost laughed, despite of himself. "Yeah, I was shocked as well."

"Thought you said it was never gonna happen"

"Well" Jared pondered, "that was before I knew she is my soulmate, right?"

"And did you-I mean, did you kiss her already? Is the tree gone?"

"No, not yet. That's why I'm calling you, man."

"I'm not following. Why did you not kiss her? You should do it right now! We don't know how much time you have left!"

"I don't want to just go up to her and kiss her! I want it to be special!"

"Oh, so you _do_ like her."

"Well, she is my soulmate!"

"That's not what I meant. You like her, don't you?"

Jared didn't know how to answer that. He _did like_ her, he just guessed it was not quite _romantic_ yet. But, c'mon, if the girl was his freaking soulmate, he was sure he would fall in love in no time!

"I guess." Jared replied.

Jensen went quiet once again, but just for a second. "You guys should go back to your place, then. I'll be there in a minute, I'll help you make it special for her."

Jared didn't know how he was going to take Genevieve back to his house (she was the one driving, after all) without actually telling her that he had already found his destined person, and it was her. He also didn't know how Jensen would help him make it special, but everything Jensen did was kinda special anyway, so he trusted him blindly.

 

*

 

Jared actually managed to get Genevieve back to his place, on the pretense that maybe his soulmate was someone he already knew, someone he saw everyday, like one of his neighbors. She agreed, and they headed there. The whole drive back, Jared took off the ears (he figured it would be pretty tiring to be hearing bells playing in his ears the entire time), and put them back, just for show, when they got out of the car again. Of course, the bells started again as soon as he got close to Genevieve, already running around the houses, trying to avoid ice patches. 

Jared looked at her fondly, and took his phone out of his pocket, to text Jensen.

 

**We're here :)**

 

  1. **_Come in. I'll hide. Don't let her come to the kitchen._**



 

Jared told Genevieve he needed something from his house, and they climbed there. He then told her to feel at home in the living room, and sneaked to the kitchen, taking off the stupid ears.

"Jensen?"

"Hey" Jensen replied, coming up from behind the refrigerator. Jared tried not to laugh. Failed. "So, before anything: are you sure? Like, really sure it's her?"

"Pretty sure" Jared replied. "We could go in there right now and I'll put on the ears and hear the bells, for sure"

"Okay, so do you wanna do this? One last time, just to make sure?"

"Yeah, okay, I can do it" Jared shrugged, and both of them went to the door that headed to the living room. Genevieve was there, sitting on the couch and playing with one of the pillows.

Jared put on the ears.

There they were again, the bells, as clear as possible, ringing insistently in his ears.

"Do you hear it?" Jensen asked. Jared nodded, and took off the ears again.

Jensen held his stare for a second, as if trying to make sure Jared wasn’t going crazy. Jared appreciated the concern, and he sure as hell wasn’t noticing little gold flecks on Jensen’s irises, no sir.

"Okay, so this is how you're gonna do it."

 

*

 

Jared replayed in his head everything Jensen had said before leaving swiftly by the back door, and went back to the living room.

Genevieve looked at him and smiled.

"Did you get it?" She asked.

Jared scratched the back of his neck, feeling his ears (his actual ears, for once) warm up with all the blushing that was probably going on on his face at that moment.

"Yeah, about that," he said, sitting down beside her. He looked at her really dark eyes, and suddenly everything Jensen had said flew out of his head. Okay, that was fine, he was just going to have to improvise, no biggie. "You're my soulmate.”

Okay, actually _biggie_. That was absolutely _NOT_ what he wanted to say.

"What?"

"Yeah" Jared replied, exasperated now. "I heard it. The bells. When I wear the ears around you, I hear it."

"Oh" she said then, and her face turned crimson all of a sudden.

"Yeah" Jared said again, stupidly. "So if we could just, you know, kiss, to get it out of the way..."

Yeah, so much for being special. _Way to go_ , Jared, _way to go_.

But Genevieve nodded. "Okay, we can do that."

And then she leaned in. Jared had a split of a second to caught up with her movement, and put his massive hand on her cheek. Their lips met, and for a moment Jared prepared himself for an explosion of feelings, because that was his soulmate! How _impressive_ was that?

Only it didn't happen. He didn't feel a thing, which was positively underwhelming, not to mention disappointing.

What he felt, though, was movement on the tree, and that was good. It probably meant it was going away. 

They broke the kiss and stared at each other's eyes for a second. Genevieve blinked at him and smiled. "Did it work?"

Jared pulled at the neck of his shirt and looked at his shoulder.

He couldn't believe.

He took off his shirt to have a better look.

The tree was there. The freaking tree was still there, full as ever, green as ever, with berries scattered all over his back. Jared actually thought there were more berries than before, to be honest.

"Maybe we should do it again? Maybe it needs more to work?" Jared said, turning back to Genevieve; she had a sad expression on her face, and Jared tried not to think of that as pity.

"Okay" she said only, and Jared kissed her again. She pressed herself a little more firmly to him this time, and they both held their breaths for a moment.

It didn't work.

"Are you sure you really heard the bells?" Genevieve asked, folding her hands on her lap, her cheeks still a little blushed.

"I'm sure, I tested it multiple times, it just doesn't make any sense!"

"Maybe we need to wait a little longer for it to go away?"

"Problem is, I don't think I have that much longer."

 

*

 

They parked in front of the store again and Jared got in, past the kid in the counter (who just gasped at them) and straight into the little door. Genevieve stayed behind.

The old lady was there, like she knew he was coming.

"Your ears are broken!" Jared said, tossing the box (okay, more like putting. He wasn't actually a savage) on the little table where they had sat that morning. 

"Now, first of all, you should know that it is not polite to come barging in on someone's place throwing the things they gave you with the goodness of their heart!" the lady said, crossing her arms. "And second, the ears are not broken, it is not their fault that you're stupid!"

"I'm not stupid!" Jared replied, stupidly. "I heard it, I heard the freaking bells, and nothing happened!"

"If you heard it, it works. If it doesn't work, then you didn't hear it!"

Jared's patience was thinner than a sheet of paper at that moment.

"I did hear it!" He said, putting the ears back on and going back to the little door, through which he could see Gen. The woman followed him, unimpressed. "See? I'm hearing it now!"

She then rolled her eyes. "Hey sweetie," she called, and Gen looked up. "Can you please stop moving for a second?"

Genevieve stopped right away, like a statue, and waited, like something was going to happen. Nothing happed. What did not happen, also, was that Jared didn't hear the bells anymore.

"What?" He asked, taking off the ears.

The woman ignored him. "Come here, girl."

Genevieve complied, and then Jared heard it again. Only he wasn't wearing the ears.

Okay, what in the hell is going on?

"Do you happen to have a hat on your purse?" The old lady asked, and Genevieve nodded, opening her purse and taking off the hat she was wearing at the party. The festive one Santa had gifted her, with the bells and all.

"I knew it." the lady continued, taking the hat from Genevieve and shaking it for good measure. "Like I said, if you heard the bell, the ears work. If it doesn't work, then you didn't hear it."

"So Gen is not my soulmate?" Jared asked, and the pain came back with a rush, like on cue, to prove the point. Genevieve placed a hand gently on his arm, supportive. 

The woman nodded her head no, and returned the hat. "Again, like I said before, I've never seen someone succeed in finding their destined person. I'm sorry, kid, but I tried to warn you."

Genevieve looked desperate. "But-but if I'm not- if I'm not this person, then why do I see the tree, when everyone else can't?"

"You know, that is not some random Christmas hat. This is a Santa's helper's hat. That's why you get to see the tree. I'm sorry, but there is nothing else we can do."

 

***

 

Jared didn't know what to do. He was seating at the edge of his bed, looking at the ears laying on top of the pillow, and trying to figure out how the hell did his life become like this.

A mess, I mean.

Genevieve had drove him back to his place earlier, because Jared wasn't going to spent what could possibly be his last living hours walking around aimlessly through the crowds in the city, trying to hear some stupid magic bell that could or could not be the right one. 

They once again parked outside and looked out the windows. Genevieve had looked like she was holding back tears, which was, at the same time, relatable, and also really scary. Jared thought that if he started crying, he wouldn't be able to stop until he choke up on the tears and died already.

"I'm sorry" Gen had said, her hands gripping the steering wheel hard enough that her knuckles turned white. Then again, maybe it was from the cold. Jared wouldn't know. 

"Me too." He'd replied.

"I really wish it was me" she whispered. Jared gulped.

"I really wish it was you too."

 

And now there he was, looking at those stupid ears, wishing last night just didn't happen altogether.

He texted Jensen, to let him know what had happened, like he'd promised.

 

**Jared: Hey**

 

_Jensen: Hey, man! How did it go? Great? I mean, it's been hours! I've been dying here_

 

**Jared: Well, so have I**

 

_Jensen: So not funny, Jay!_

 

**Jared: So, it wasn't her after all**

 

_Jensen: What?_

_Jensen: What do you mean wasn't her?_

_Jensen: Jared?_

_Jensen: Are you okay?_

_Jensen: If you don't reply right now, I'm coming up to your place to kick your ass!_

 

**Jared: I really thought it was her. I've heard the freaking bells, man!**

**Jared: But turns out it wasn't the right kind of bell. She was just carrying around a bag with bells inside, and that was what I was hearing the entire time**

 

 

Jensen stopped replying, and Jared tossed his phone on the bed, letting himself fall backwards on it too.

He was going to die. It was time to admit that to himself.

 

*

 

Exactly ten minutes later, Jensen barged in; the dogs were loose on the house, though, so he had to work a little to get to Jared's bed. Jared didn't even move besides opening one of his eyes, just to make sure it was really Jensen.

"Why are you hiding here instead of going out there to try and find that person?" Is what Jensen asked, kicking at Jared's boots. Jared shrugged. "Are you serious? Man! You could die!"

"You think didn't realize that yet?"

Jensen gaped at him. Actually gaped, his lips hanging open. Jared pointedly didn't look.

"Look" Jensen said, sitting beside Jared and huffing a little in what could only be frustration. Jensen was wearing his reading glasses, and Jared was finding it hard to look directly at his stupidly beautiful face without getting a little too emotional. He looked like he had just gotten out of bed and ran to Jared’s place, and that was making Jared feel a little knot on his stomach. "I know you probably think that everything is lost right now, but you just can't give up like that! There's people who love you, who need you in their lives! You can't just give up like this!"

"There is nothing I can do, Jensen! I'm doomed."

Jensen almost laughed. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Jared finally opened both his eyes and turned his head to look at Jensen full on. He was looming a little over Jared, and looking down at him with moist eyes.

"Wow wow wow" Jared said, sitting up startled and putting his hand on Jensen's shoulder. "Don't you dare do that! I mean it!"

Jensen shook his head, smiling a sad little smile. "That's just so, so stupid. How is this even happening?"

"I've asked myself that about a thousand times now" Jared chuckled, retreating his hand. Jensen then looked directly at his face, and held the stare for a moment.

"You can't die" he said, a little chocked.

"Maybe I won't." Jared shrugged. "It's hard to know, honestly. Maybe this thing is actually benign."

The tree chose that exact moment to make him double in pain, as if mocking him for being stupid.

"Okay, maybe I will" he murmured, face contorted. Jensen did not appreciate the joke.

 

*

 

Jared didn't know how, but Jensen had actually convinced him to go out. 

"Let's go somewhere so full of people we can't even move" he'd said, making Jared bitterly give up on his little pity party. "Let's get shit faced and dance with everybody in the room, until you find your soulmate. And if we don't, we'll just keep looking!"

So there they were. Jensen was wearing the same clothes he had when he first got to Jared's house (which was, honest to god, a pair of sweats and a jacket borrowed from Jared, that were probably twice his size), including his glasses. He had insisted that Jared dress up nice, though, in an attempt to give him more chances, or something like that. Jared had also decided to leave the ears behind, because he didn't really want to think about the implications of not hearing the freaking magic bell.

As soon as they got inside the club, Jensen went straight to the DJ. He yelled something on her ears, and the girl grinned back.

"Hey guys, looks like we have an announcement!" she said, lowering the music a little. A few people complained, but she simply ignored. "Today a friend of mine is having a bachelor party," she winked at Jensen and a bright light shone on Jared's face. "Let's see how many kisses we can get him before his big day!"

The music came back full on, and with a cheer, people started dancing again. Somehow, Jensen had actually managed to choose the perfect place, because it really was hard to move around.

Jared felt a hand gripping his arm, and that was the only indication he got before someone was pulling his head down by the neck and kissing him senseless. He could hear Jensen laughing somewhere on his back, and ideally, he was kinda happy that Jensen seemed very proud of his dumb plan, but he also felt a little knot forming on his belly, because some random stranger was kissing him, and he didn't feel like it was worth it. Any of it.

He didin’t have much time to think about it, though, because someone else bumped into his back, and a bolt of sudden pain jolted through him. He hissed, and that broke the kiss, but before he could see whoever it was, the person was gone and someone else took their place. This time, Jared concentrated in ignoring the pain and looking at the person before ducking down to kiss them. This girl had been drinking something sweet and alcoholic, Jared could taste in their lips; he felt a little dizzy just thinking about it, and broke the kiss. The girl laughed, clearly intoxicated, and thrusted her glass on one of Jared’s massive hands.

Jared was going to throw the thing out, but someone else bumped into him, and he downed the entire thing, to drown the pain.

The alcohol went straight to his brain; Jared looked around, trying to locate Jensen through the crowd, and as if on cue, his friend showed up at his side, a glass of something blue in his right hand, which he trusted at Jared.

“I’ll stand at your back to watch out for people bumping on you, okay?” he yelled, his mouth really close to Jared’s ear.

Jared nodded, and drank the blue thing like it was water; it burned his throat, and for a second Jared thought that the line of people forming in front of him was something totally normal.

As the night progressed, he didn‘t really know anymore who’s hands were touching his face, or who’s mouth was pressed against his, but fortunately he was always aware of Jensen’s presence, dancing the entire time, almost pressed to his back, but not touching, his laughter reverberating on Jared’s ears, like it always did.

 

*

 

It took him a moment to realize he was moving, or rather that someone was pulling him away towards the center of the dance floor. Jared was drunk, again, and this time he had a plausible excuse other than being a little angry at Danneel Harris for dating his best friend, so he just let himself be led into the mass of people.

He was kissing someone else now, and honestly, how many people there were in this goddamn place, anyway?

He didn’t know if he could keep this up anymore. He looked around for Jensen again, and their eyes met. He was searching for Jared too.

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Jensen asked when he got close enough. Jared looped an arm around him, to protect himself from a boy he was almost a hundred percent sure he’d kissed at least three times already. Jensen placed both his hands on Jared’s waist, careful not to touch any part of the tree, even though he couldn’t actually see it; he was probably just guessing from the description Genevieve had given him.

They started dancing, Jensen resting his head tiredly on the edge of Jared’s shoulder, and Jared didn’t really know what to do with himself. They swayed along with the music, and people started to realize the free kiss party was over. Jensen looked up back at him, and his glasses were a little fogged by the sweat dripping over his brow, even though they were smack down in the middle of winter; the place was too crowded, they were just too close, and for a second Jared let himself think about what would it be like to get even closer.

It took him a long time to realize Jensen had actually asked him something. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Jensen asked again, looking up at Jared expectantly.

“I think I wanna go home.”

 

***

 

Jensen brought Jared home on his car, and they both went inside. The dogs greeted them, and Jared was drunk and laughing, sitting on the ground to let them lick at his face.

Jensen got him off of his jacket and went to the kitchen. When he came back, Jared was holding Harley and crying a little, silently, wetting his fur and making a mess of himself. Harley just stayed there, really quiet, like he knew exactly how his owner were feeling.

“C’mon, you big baby” Jensen said, handing him a mug with steaming tea and trying to get Jared to move up the stairs. “Drink, it’ll help.”

Jared did just that, and Jensen half carried him to his room.

“I need a shower” Jensen huffed, letting Jared on his bed, the warm mug comfortably held between his hands. “So do you. I’ll help myself to the guest room, but I need you to take a shower too. Do you understand?”

Jared laughed. “I’m drunk, but I’m not dead yet, man”

Jensen sighed, tiredly. “So _not_ funny.”

 

*

 

Jared leaned his back on the wall and let the hot water fall over his head, his hair sticking to his forehead; now that the alcohol was wearing off, he could feel the constant pain squeezing his heart like a vice.

He took a step away from the wall, but honestly, it didn’t really help. He guesses his time was finally wearing thin. That was that. There was nothing else to do.

He stepped out of the shower and into the pajamas Jensen had chosen for him, then let himself fall on the warm bed. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and thumbed his way through his agenda, searching for his mom’s number. He thought about calling her since he’d woken up that morning, but he didn’t have the heart. Nothing had changed, then, so he just flipped his phone shut and put it back on the nightstand.

He didn't feel like crying anymore, nor did he feel scared. He was just so _tired_.

Jensen knocked lightly on his door before coming in. He was wearing another pair of sweats, and this ones were a little too long on him.

"I got it from the laundry room" he said, smiling softly when Jared looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, not drunk anymore." Jared replied. He didn't mention the fact that the pain was burning him from inside and wouldn't go away anymore.

"Okay" Jensen replied, coming over to the bed and sitting on the edge. He wasn't wearing his glasses anymore, and Jared got to look directly into his eyes. "So, I was thinking-" he started to say, but was interrupted. His phone started ringing loudly, and Jensen took it off his pocket and answered. "Dee?"

Jared stopped listening. He was dying, and Jensen was there, but he was on the phone with _Danneel Harris_. And it's not that he didn't like her, it's just that he _hated her_. A lot. 

When Jensen ended the call, Jared made a point of not looking at him.

"So-" Jensen said again, but this time Jared interrupted him instead.

"Was that _Danneel_?" He asked. Jensen nodded. "Awesome. Are you going to leave me here alone and go make out with her somewhere, then forget about my existence?"

Jensen looked at him like he was crazy, or still drunk. "What?"

"You know, because it's fine, I don't give a damn, you can just go."

"Do you really think I would ever chose to hang out with anyone else over you?" Jensen asked, incredulous. 

Jared crossed his arms and looked pointedly away. "Well, isn't that exactly what you did the other night?"

"The other night? What are you even talking about, man?"

"You said you were going to get us drinks, and never came back!"

“I was going back!” Jensen said, turning to face Jared straight in the eyes, even though Jared was definitely not looking at him.

“Yeah, right.”

“Seriously. I got us the drinks and was going back, but she wouldn’t let me go!”

Jared didn’t respond. That was stupid, he didn’t even know why he was being so emotional about that.

“It’s okay.” He managed to say, then, and finally looked at Jensen again. He was staring back at Jared, intently.

“Is that why you were mad at me earlier?” Jensen asked, picking at a loose thread on the pants he was wearing. Jared nodded, because there was nothing else he could do, and stared at Jensen’s hand moving repeatedly on his knee. “I’m sorry.”

Jared didn’t know what, exactly, Jensen was apologizing for, but he accepted it anyway.

“She is calling because we broke up.” Jensen said then, so small that if there weren’t just the two of them in the room right there, Jared would’ve missed it.

“What? When? I mean-why?”

“Earlier today,” Jensen sighed. “I went to her place as soon as I left here, and told her I couldn’t focus on a relationship right now, because I had some issues that needed to be taken care of. She didn’t take it very well.”

Jared was a little speechless. He knew that the ‘issues’ Jensen had to take care of probably had something to do with him, what with all that Soulmate Tree of Death thing, and he didn’t know what to say.

Jensen didn’t seem sad, though, at least not because of _that_ , anyway. Still, Jared felt the need to express his feelings, and tugged Jensen towards him, embracing him in a quick hug.

“I’m sorry, man. That sucks.”

“Jared.” Jensen called, ignoring what he had just said. “I was thinking,” he repeated, like Danneel had never interrupted him. “Maybe-I mean, it’s worth a try, right? I’m not saying that you need to do it, so if you don’t want, that’s fine as well, but it wouldn’t hurt to try, you know?”

Jared blinked at him. “I’m sorry, what?”

Jensen took a long breath and chuckled, clearly uncomfortable. “All I’m saying is maybe-maybe I should kiss you?”

Jared stayed there, his eyes glued to Jensen’s, and his gut filling with a heavy weight he didn’t really recognize. Despite the constant pain, Jared felt his chest expanding a little, and he didn’t really know what to do with himself.

“Jared.” Jensen said again. “Can I kiss you?”

Jared nodded, and Jensen leaned in. He put one of his hands around Jared’s jaw, and gently placed a kiss on Jared’s lips. Jared felt the pain double immediately, and knew something was wrong, but Jensen was there, and he was warm and beautiful, and everything Jared had ever wanted, but never let himself desire. He surged forward, and pressed harder against Jensen, who promptly opened up for him.

They kissed, and their tongues met and enlaced. Jensen licked at his teeth, and all Jared could do was kiss back and want more, like an idiot who had gotten himself cursed, and realized he was in love with his best friend a few hours before he died.

He felt stupid, and he felt hot. Jensen’s lips open between his, Jared couldn’t get enough of the way he tasted, the way his tongue licked his way inside Jared’s mouth, and how Jensen’s stubble scrapped along his, how his hands moved going up to his damp hair.

It was everything, it was perfect, and then it ended.

Jensen leaned back to look at him, and his eyes searched for an answer within Jared’s, but Jared was as lost as he was. He was still feeling pain, and he was still going to die, but now he had regrets, he thought about all the times he felt like this about Jensen and didn’t know what it was, until now, until he was about to lose it all.

Jensen had unshed tears in his eyes, and Jared almost couldn’t resist the urge to kiss them away. He did, though, and Jensen slowly removed his hand from Jared’s hair.

“Will you stay?” Jared asked, because suddenly he was scared that that had broken them. He was scared that Jensen would run away, that they had went too far.

But Jensen wasn’t going anywhere. “Of course.” He said, climbing all the way on the bed and pulling Jared to his chest. “I’ll be here as long as you need me.”

And Jared needed.

 

***

 

When Jared woke up the next day, Jensen wasn’t there. There was a note on his nightstand, though.

 

_Morning, sunshine!_  
  
Your twenty-four hours are over, and you’re still breathing (and kicking me out of bed), so I guess you did not die.

_Please call me when you wake up (just to be sure)!_

_J.A._

 

Jared smiled, and looked at his phone. 11:36h. His 24 hours had ended more than eleven hours ago, and he was _alive_! He was alive and kicking Jensen out of bed, and there was no pain!

He jumped out of bed and went straight to the bathroom, to check on the tree.

It was gone! Entirely gone!

The only thing left was that one Fairy Berry, the one that had showed up before all the others, and even that was almost gone as well, just a faint ghost of what used to be bright red ink on his skin.

Jared couldn’t believe himself. He went downstairs and hugged his dogs, then made himself a big bowl of cereals, throwing everything sweet he found in the counters on it, trying to make up for how he didn’t have a single meal the day before.

He then picked up the phone and called Genevieve. She cried on the phone, and he promised he would go to her place later that day, so she could see him, alive and well, with her own eyes.

"So it worked, then?" She asked, the smile audible on her voice, "You actually found your soulmate!"

And for a moment, Jared thought about saying no, that it had all worked itself out, but then he realized.

There was one time Jared had heard the bells, and Genevieve wasn't actually rattling the hat around; it was when he tried to show Jensen that it was Genevieve. He had heart it, even though she was just sitting on his couch.

He had heard it because it was Jensen. It was Jensen all along!

 

*

 

It took him a few more hours to must up the courage to go see Jensen. He ate some more, then he showered, then he sat on the bed for a while remembering kissing Jensen the night before. He called his mom, just cause he could, and he texted Chad, until there was nothing else he could do to avoid actually getting his ass up and just go talk to Jensen already.

So he did that, and parked outside his apartment building. The door's-man let him up without even having to identify himself, due to how often he went there. He had a key, too, but he didn't use it; he rang the doorbell.

It took Jensen a few minutes to come open the door, and when he did, Jared honest to god felt his knees give up a little at the sight. There was nothing particularly noticeable about him, it was just that Jared suddenly felt so goddamn hopeless, so smitten it actually hurt a little.

"Hey" he said, stupidly. 

Jensen smiled really big and hugged him tight. "I still can't believe you're alive, man!" He huffed, patting Jared hard on the shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Jay."

Jared smiled. "It's good to be back."

"Come in!" Jensen said, already pulling Jared inside. "Do you want something to eat? Or maybe a drink, or something?"

"Actually" Jared said, stopping midway to Jensen's kitchen. "I want to talk to you."

Jensen sighed, like he had expected that. "Okay, let's go to the living room, then."

Jared followed him and they both flopped on Jensen's couch at the same time, with the same content groan.

"Look-" Jared started, but Jensen interrupted him.

"I know what you're going to ask," he said "but I don't know what you want me to answer, man. I did it because I thought it was our last hope or something, but if knew that everything would just work itself out in the end, i wouldn't have done that, okay? It doesn't have to change anything between us, ok?"

"Yeah, well, abou that." Jared chuckled, a little uncomfortable that this conversation was taking a turn he didn't really expect. "It actually didn't. Work itself out, I mean."

"Oh"

"Yeah" Jared repeated, scratching the back of his neck deliberately. "Turns out I actually found my soulmate. I've heard the bells and all, I just didn't know at the time."

Jensen's eyes widened. "Oh, so you-oh, okay."

"I just want to know, Jen. Did it mean something to you?"

Jensen gulped. "Look, I don't want things to be weird between us, so if we could just-"

"Things are already weird, Jen. Just answer me, please. Did that kiss mean something to you?"

Jensen nodded. "It did."

"Okay" Jared replied then, a big smile splitting up his face. 

"Did it mean something to you too?" Jensen asked, looking a little uncertain.

"Well, it saved my life, so I guess it meant a lot" Jared shrugged.

"What?"

"Yeah, turns out it was you. Who knew, right?"

Jensen didn't reply, he just surged forward and kissed Jared. "I did."

 

 

 

**So, just to make sure, here are the five things Jared never knew about Jensen Ackles, but now he knows:**

1 – He doesn’t really like when people point out how pretty he is.

2 – He had a girlfriend called Joan when he was 8.

3 – He hates spicy things.

4 – He still owns one of his toys from when he was little.

5 – He always was, and would ever be, completely in love with his best friend.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was vaguely inspired by a Korean drama called Witch's Love, and when I say vaguely, I really mean it. 
> 
> This is story is not beta read, and English is not my first language, so all mistakes are mine; please excuse my poor vocabulary, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.


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